They Relegated Him To The Kitchen — Then Doris Miller Became A Hero At Pearl Harbor

By William DeLong

Published June 12, 2018

Updated June 20, 2018

Some historians say Doris Miller's actions became the catalyst for the Civil Rights movement.

U.S. Navy/Wikimedia Commons Doris Miller, the first African-American to earn the Navy Cross for valor, in May of 1942.

Doris Miller, known as Dorie to his friends and shipmates, was a U.S. Navy hero who just wanted to travel the world and support his family. He worked in the kitchen as a ship’s cook, third class, before a world-changing event thrust him into the spotlight.

Miller was born on Oct. 12, 1919, in Waco, Texas. His parents, Henrietta and Conery Miller, had four boys total. Miller was athletic and he played fullback for Moore High School in Waco. After high school, he decided to enlist in the Navy where he became a cook.

Early Career

Following his training in 1939, Doris Miller was assigned to the USS Pyro, an ammunition ship based in Norfolk, Virginia. In early 1940, he transferred to the massive battleship USS West Virginia. He earned the respect of his shipmates by becoming the West Virginia‘s heavyweight boxing champion. Miller was a massive man with a huge frame at 6’3″ tall and more than 200 pounds.

No one tangled with Miller and walked away easily, on the ship or off. His heavyweight championship was no small feat since the West Virginia had 2,000 men on board.

In terms of his ordinary duties, Miller, like other African-American sailors of his day, was generally relegated to service-based roles on ships. The Navy did not allow sailors of color to enlist in combat roles. Even with this blatant racism on board, Miller served his ship proudly as a ship’s cook.

After brief training at gunnery school on board the USS Nevada (that training would prove vitally important later on), he returned to the West Virginia in early August of 1940. Miller’s ship eventually found its way to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as part of the Pacific Fleet.

It was at Pearl Harbor that Doris Miller made his mark on American history.

Doris Miller’s Date With Destiny

He arrived on duty at 6 a.m. by starting breakfast for the ship’s officers. He was doing laundry below decks when general quarters sounded. Doris Miller’s battle station was the antiaircraft battery magazine amidship. When he arrived on deck, Miller found his gun was damaged by a Japanese torpedo.

An officer ordered Miller to help carry the wounded off the main deck. Miller’s former role as a fullback on his high school football team suited him well. After rescuing several shipmates, all the while bombs and torpedoes were exploding in Pearl Harbor, he was ordered to evacuate Capt. Mervyn Bennion off the bridge because he was wounded. The captain refused to abandon his post, and he died from his wounds.

Undaunted, Doris Miller and two other crewmates loaded two 50-caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine guns. One crew member fired one, while Miller, despite having no training on these guns whatsoever, fired the second. The third crew member went between both guns to load them.

Miller described what it was like firing a machine gun at incoming aircraft. “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

Crewmates dispute the fact that Doris Miller shot down a plane, but that’s only because other ships were firing their anti-aircraft guns at the divebombing Japanese planes. Even if Miller didn’t get a plane, the wall of bullets screaming towards the planes prevented even worse losses in Pearl Harbor.

After the Japanese planes left, Doris Miller helped rescue shipmates from the water before the West Virginia sank with 130 men killed.

Leaving His Mark on History

News of Doris Miller’s bravery took time to reach the upper echelons of government. On Dec. 15, 1941, the Navy released its commendations for actions in Pearl Harbor. The list included one “unnamed Negro.” It wasn’t until March of 1942, at the behest of the NAACP, that the Navy formally recognized Miller’s heroism.

The United States needed good news and heroic deeds following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and Miller’s was one such story.

Sen. James Mead of New York introduced a bill to award him the Medal of Honor, but that effort failed. Doris Miller received the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for military service, for his actions on Dec. 7, 1941.

In his citation of April 1, 1942, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox wrote:

“For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard of his personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller despite enemy strafing and bombing, and in the face of serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety and later manned and operated a machine gun until ordered to leave the bridge.”

Adm. Chester Nimitz, a Navy legend, personally pinned the Navy Cross to Miller’s left breast pocket on board the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise on May 27, 1942. Nimitz said, “This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I’m sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts.”

Miller was the first African-American man honored with the Navy Cross.

Doris Miller’s Legacy

Sadly, Doris Miller died in action on Nov. 24, 1943, on board the USS Liscome Bay in the Pacific Ocean. The newly constructed ship was an escort carrier, and a single Japanese torpedo sank the vessel off the coast of Butaritari Island. Two-thirds of the ship’s crew died with the ship because it sank quickly.

But that’s not the end of Miller’s story.

Following Miller’s actions of heroism on board the West Virginia, the Navy took steps to allow African-Americans to serve in combat roles. This started a roll-back of the Navy’s policy of racial segregation. The military then fully integrated African-American men into units with whites.

Modern scholars assert that Doris Miller’s heroism at Pearl Harbor in 1941 started a chain of events that led to the Civil Rights movement.